Jokowi Asks Old Age Campuses To Rejuvenate The Learning System To Be More Technology Literate

President Joko Widodo (Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo has asked all old colleges or campuses to rejuvenate their learning systems in the face of technological advances.

He conveyed this in a virtual conference of the Indonesian Chancellor's Forum which was attended by rectors and leaders of universities throughout Indonesia.

"Universities that are old, please immediately do self-rejuvenation, rejuvenating curriculum and learning systems, rejuvenating management and behavior so that they remain strong and competitive in the new world," said Jokowi as uploaded on the Presidential Secretariat Youtube, Tuesday, July 27.

Meanwhile, universities that are still young can now take a golden opportunity. According to Jokowi, young universities are not burdened with throwing away past work traditions.

"New universities have the opportunity to jump into new ways of working, to new curricula, to new management models," he said.

Jokowi continued, the COVID-19 pandemic is a series of disruptions, adding to the disruption that was previously triggered by the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Changes in the socio-cultural landscape, changes in the economic landscape, changes in the political landscape underwent major changes due to the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

"We have to admit that technology has become a master of disruption. Trade has shifted to e-commerce. Banking dynia has been disrupted by the presence of fintech and various types of e-payments. The world of medicine and pharmacy is increasingly disrupted by health tech. Legal professionals are also starting to be shaken by regtech and the world of education has been massively disrupted by edutech," explained Jokowi. Therefore, higher education institutions inevitably have to strengthen their position as edutech institutions. The most basic technology is learning to use digital technology.

He said, digital learning is not only used to facilitate teaching by internal campus lecturers to students, but also facilitates students to learn from anyone, anywhere, about anything.

"Learning from practitioners, including industry players, is very important to facilitate. The curriculum must give credits far greater weight for students to learn from practitioners and industry. The exposure of students and lecturers to the future technology industry must be increased," he said.

"Teachers and mentors from student internship industry players to the industrial world and even industry as tenants on campus must be added, including other practitioner organizations must also be invited to collaborate," he continued.